I found the Flat Belly Diet! book at my local library.

I was already aware of the book’s premise to consume more MUFAs (mono-unsaturated fatty acids) , but I was curious as to how they devised a whole diet concept around them.

The first third of the book describes the diet plan and all the good things about MUFAs, then there’s various meal plans and recipes. A four week blank journal is included in the last 1/3 of the book, along with the Flat Belly Workout and later, a section for a life plan to lose more or maintain your weight loss.

The book offers lots of statistics and worldwide group studies touting the power of MUFAs. It doesn’t just deal with calories and food consumption, it also brings to light how stress, emotions and a positive attitude can affect your weight.

“Success Stories” are scattered throughout the whole book for inspiration and motivation!

There’s also a section on bloating, which foods to avoid, and guidelines for a 4 day Anti-Bloat Jumpstart plan. I found a few of the tips interesting. For example, did you know that bulky raw foods and hot spicy food can contribute to bloating.

What is the Flat Belly Diet?

The “diet” is based on 3 simple rules:

  1. Stick to 400 calories per meal = 1600 calories per day – not necessarily enough calories for most men or taller women, but a good starting place for an average woman. Personally I eat three full meals, plus at least two smaller snacks each day. I try not to go higher than 500 for any meal, but dinner is usually my largest meal calorie-wise. Breakfast and lunch are usually in the 350-400 calorie range. Snacks are always lower in calories, and I usually eat more often than every 4 hrs! I break my snacks up into 2 hr blocks sometimes, so I definitely eat more than 4 times per day.
  2. Never go longer than 4 hrs without eating – this is one rule that I can totally get behind. It’s good advice, and a lot of other diet plans suggest this. It’s not that difficult to accomplish, but it does require some planning if you are away from home all day. It could be more of an adjustment for some.
  3. Eat a MUFA with each meal – yum, who doesn’t want dark chocolate or olive oil? Walnuts or peanut butter?! I live on nut butter & jelly sandwiches! But the book isn’t giving you permission to eat only dark chocolate with every meal! Diversity is key!

But seriously, is it really necessary to eat MUFAs at every meal like the book suggests? My feeling don’t drive yourself crazy trying to plan your meals around MUFAs. As long as you consume a healthy amount of MUFA in general, I think you’re on the right track. Problem is, the book doesn’t mention any actual numbers, as in the total MUFA grams you need per day, so you really don’t know how much you need to eat.

I also thought it was very strange that the recipe nutritional data didn’t break down the fat grams to include MUFAs. For example, Chickpea Salad states 13g and 2g Saturated Fat. Shouldn’t there also be a listing for Mono-unsaturated fat? It’s what the book is all about for heaven’s sake!

Another annoyance, I found on the list of examples on (page 101) the MUFA Serving Chart only displays cups or tbsp, which isn’t always very accurate when you are measuring nuts, olives, chocolate, or avocado. I would have much rather preferred that weight measurements in ounces or grams also be included. It would have been helpful to also see the actual mono-unsaturated fat grams for each item as well. Thankfully the info is easy to find online on other web sites like
thefoodchart.com/monounsaturated-fat.php and nutritiondata.com/foods-000032000000000000000.html.

Unfortunately, the flatbellydiet.com website (listed in the book) has the look of one of those tacky, spammy type sites, and it doesn’t appear that you can access much valuable information for free. There is a form to fill out to get a free “profile” but I didn’t feel comfortable giving out my email address to sign up.

Is the Flat Belly Diet a Fad?

So, is the Flat Belly Diet a fad diet? Sort of. Just the name “Flat Belly Diet” screams “fad” to me! And if you believe the book cover’s promise of “lose up to 15 pounds in 32 days”, then yeah, you’re probably going to be disappointed. Thankfully, most of the “Success Stories” listed in the book were sensible weight loss examples for a 32 day span of time. But I suppose the promise of “lose 5 pounds in 32 days” doesn’t sell many books!

No, I don’t know if eating more MUFAs will decrease belly fat. I suppose weight loss in general will do that for you. In that regard, I do think the diet name might be a little misleading.

But don’t judge a book by its cover, or a diet by its bad marketing tactics; looking past all the commercialism and gimmicks, the Flat Belly Diet is built on valuable ideas. Just don’t take it too seriously by following the rules to the letter. It’s gives you a good place to start, so try adding more MUFAs to your own healthy diet plan. And don’t forget to maintain a positive attitude!

If you can find the book at your local library, go for it. It’s definitely worth the read. But Amazon’s price for the paperback version is under $10, so you really can’t go wrong either way.